poetry winner





Teddy Blair, sweetheart, you never knew
what my world was like before there was you.
I was young and cocky and had all my hair
but didn’t know what was missing was Teddy Blair.
Then your mom and I got a nice surprise
with curly blonde hair and big blue eyes
a black hole for cookies and fries.
The princess had arrived at her castle.

Through sleepless nights we paid our dues
big bumps in the road in the terrible twos
but you looked really cute in Daddy’s shoes.
Daddy fell in love with the princess.

Its a nice kind of hurting when a memory goes by
like a sweet distant song and little tears in my eyes.
Though we dream of tomorrow as we fly through today
Every memory together still has something to say.

You’d listen to my stories while you twiddled my hair
about Teddy Blair Land and how to get there
Sometimes big wrinkles appeared in dress slacks
from Teddy in lap, but I’d love to go back.
But I blinked my eyes and now it seems so strange.
A lot of my Teddy has been rearranged.
The princess has makeup and ribbons and curls.
and calls from "princes" after my little girl.

More than once I was tempted, more than I like to show
to be someone else than the daddy you know.
You can aim so high and fall so low.
It helped to come home to a princess.

So it won’t be easy to give you away
I couldn’t love you any more than I do today.
I regret so many things I didn’t do or say
But I thank God for the moments that are left in today.

- John C. Simmons




©1998 Andrew Miller




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